MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers' budget would add $22 million each year to help schools pay for social workers, psychologists, counselors and nurses to assist students facing mental health challenges.

If passed into law, the proposals would constitute a significant expansion in state support for youth mental health.

Evers' proposed increases would be added to the $3 million designated by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the 2017-19 state budget to help schools hire social workers, and would bring the state's total investment to $25 million in each year of Evers' budget.

The additional money continues a push by state officials to give children dealing with mental health issues more access to the help they need. Evers' office didn't respond with a comment for this story.

Evers' budget also adds $7 million to a state grant program that helps schools work with local health agencies to get students mental health services. That money would be added to $3.25 million allocated in the previous budget for a total of $10.25 million in each year of the new budget.

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Gov. Tony Evers reads a Dr. Seuss book to third-grade students Friday, March 1, 2019, at Lincoln Elementary School in Appleton, Wis.(Photo: Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Evers' budget also includes about $2.5 million each year to provide school staff more training on mental health issues.

Many school districts across Wisconsin are eager to get more funding to help provide appropriate services for students' mental health needs, said Joanne Juhnke, policy director at Wisconsin Family Ties, a Madison-based organization that helps families with children that have mental health challenges.

“Schools are struggling to meet all of those needs,” Juhnke said. “I think there is an understanding that this is really something we need to be addressing.”

Evers' proposed budget faces immense challenges, as it needs approval from the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which has already signaled opposition to many of the measures included in the governor's proposed budget. But it was Walker and other Republican lawmakers who touted an expansion of funding for mental health services in the 2017-19 budget.

Nearly 40 percent of the state's public high school students have had high levels of anxiety, while about 27 percent have experienced depression, according to the 2017 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

More than 16 percent of those students have considered suicide, while nearly 8 percent have actually attempted to take their own lives.

Juhnke hopes the measures included in Evers' budget get support from lawmakers from both parties.

“I think there is bipartisan recognition that these are major challenges,” she said.

State Rep. Paul Tittl, a Republican from Manitowoc, thinks so too. Tittl, who leads a committee on mental health, noted that the cost of treating mental health issues early is significantly less than waiting until someone has a serious crisis.

“I don’t think mental health is a partisan issue at all,” Tittl said.

But the stigma often associated with mental health remains a serious issue that still needs to be addressed, Tittl said.

State Rep. Joan Ballweg, a Republican from Markesan, will lead a task force on suicide prevention formed by Speaker Robin Vos. The task force will include lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, Ballweg said.

The task force will hold a series of public meetings across the state to learn more about how residents are affected by issues related to suicide, Ballweg said.

Evers' budget also boosts funding for special education by more than $600 million — a reversal of "a longstanding and very negative trend," Juhnke said.

The increase includes about $75 million during the budget's first fiscal year and about $531 million during the budget's second fiscal year, which reimburses the cost to schools at 30 and 60 percent for those years, respectively.

Evers noted in his budget that funding for special education hasn't changed since the 2008-09 fiscal year.

“People are starting to realize that we have been heading down a dangerous path on this,” Juhnke said. “This is something that we really need to do for our students.”

Rep. Joan Ballweg answers a question asked by Nekita Krisko, left, during the Kids in Crisis Day of Action at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wis., Thursday, May 10, 2018.(Photo: Alexandra Wimley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)